The Switch Building, 109 Norfolk Street: Review and Ratings

Review of 109 Norfolk Street by Carter Horsley

This small, 7-story, mid-block building is one of the "new" landmarks of the Lower East Side.

Designed by nARCHITECTS, it is known as the "Switch Building" because its floors switch back and forth with gentle angles creating a lively façade and a new twist on bay windows.

The metal-clad, zig-zagging façade has floor-to-ceiling windows and the six residential floors have three different fenestration patterns. The ground floor has retail space that extends the full depth of the site with a skylit, double-height space at the rear.

It is just to the south of the very pleasant red-brick Asian Americans for Equality Community Center at 111 Norfolk Street designed by Victor M. Morales that was completed in 2005 and it is just to the north of the one-story Tonic nightclub at 107 Norfolk Street. The "Switch" building is across the street from another nice red-brick apartment building at 108-110 Norfolk Street and it is close to a new construction site at 105 Norfolk Street where Bernard Tschumi has designed "Blue," a sharply angled 16-story building clad in blue glass.

Another unusual nearby project is a seven-story building at 115 Norfolk Street designed by Grzywinski Pons Architects for Zeyad Aly.

Gil Grinberg is the developer of this property, which is between Delancey and Rivington Streets. This building has 5 condominium apartments, one of which is a duplex penthouse.

The third through the fifth floors have full-floor apartments with living/dining room areas that measure 23 by 17 feet with 12-by-7-foot balconies, one bedroom that measures 10 by 19 feet six inches and another bedroomthat measures 12 feet six inches by 12 feet. The two-bedroom apartments had a starting sales price of about $1,425,000.

The second floor apartment substitutes a 25 by 30 foot terrace for the 12-by-7-foot balcony.

The 3-bedroom, duplex penthouse has a 12-by-7-foot balcony on the sixth floor and a 25-by-22-foot terrace on the seventh floor.

Kitchens have Sub-Zero refrigerators, Bosch cooktops and dishwashers, Futuro range hoods, Monogram wine collers, Frigidaire washers and dryers, Glass backsplaches, and stainless steel countertops in the kitchens. The bathrooms have neptune "zen" bathtubs, travertine walls, Vitra & Hastings sinks, and Lacara fixtures.

The apartments have bamboo floors and slate terraces and balconies.